The next morning, Taemin was having what seemed to be the most amazing dream    he had found his soulmate at the ball. She had long, dark locks and wore a beautiful, white wedding gown. The young girl was standing at the church's alter, back faced to him, while the organist played lively church music in the background. The Prince walked over and proudly stood next to her, smiling, though he couldn't see her face under the thick veil.

"You may now kiss the bride." the Priest nodded towards the two.

Taemin grinned and slowly lifted the veil from his bride's face, lips pursed.

However when the identity of the woman was revealed, he jumped back and fell to the floor, shocked.

The girl hidden under the veil was his own kidnapper, Minho, who's lips were puckered and ready for a kiss.

Surprised, the Prince sprung up from his bed, breathing heavily. It was just a nightmare.

Taemin sighed in relief and wiped the beads of sweat from his forehead. Once he had calmed down, he surveyed his unfamiliar surroundings. Where am I?

He was in a small room, about the size of a closet, that had no furnishings besides a bed, which took up more than half of the room, and a small wooden table. The door before him also had a small window installed in at the top, solely so the thieves could keep an eye on him.

He was about to sit up and check if it was locked, until suddenly the door suddenly clicked open, revealing Onew with a plate of food. The boy flinched, then brought his knees to his chest in the far corner of his bed.

The leader smiled at the Prince and quickly placed the plate on the floor before bowing to him. "Good Morning your highness. Sorry we couldn't accomodate a larger living space for you, but our cottage is small. We made you some breakfast in case you were hungry."

Taemin only stared at the man with scared eyes and stayed silent. Though they seemed kind, the Prince still didn't take a liking towards his kidnappers. They were wanted thieves, and Taemin wasn't gullible enough to easily trust a thief.

Onew noticed the boy was still wearing his formal wear from the ball last night and grabbed a pair of trousers and a loose shirt for him to change into. "I'm sure you'd be much more comfortable in these your highness. Just knock on the door if you need anything else, alright?"

Taemin still kept quiet. Seeing that he wasn't going to respond, Jinki gave the Prince a soft smile and locked the door behind him.

Once Onew was out of sight, the Prince got up and grabbed the food the man had left for him. He sniffed it for precaution, then took a bite when he thought it seemed safe.

I need to think of a way to get out of here, Umma and Appa will be so worried about me, the Prince thought as he ate. Though it was small, the meal was decent enough for Taemin to last until lunch.

"How is he?" Key asked from the dining room table as the leader came over.

"He's fine, but he is wary of us. I tried talking to him and he wouldn't respond. I don't blame him though."

"Should we send the ransom note soon?" Jonghyun asked.

"We should wait a bit longer. The more desperate they are, the more willing they'll be to pay for their Prince back." Onew suggested.

The thieves nodded in agreement and finished up breakfast.

"Jonghyun and I are going to the market. Keep an eye on the Prince," Jinki instructed. "And just try and leave him alone for the day. We wouldn't want him to feel overwhelmed than he already is. The kid had a pretty rough night."

"Ugh, fine." Key huffed. He was hoping to spend some time with the boy    he had always wanted a little brother.

"Whatever." Minho mumbled as he got up to do the dishes. Onew rolled his eyes at the younger's stubborn attitude and left the cottage.

Throughout the day, Key regularly looked into the Prince's room to see what he was up to     which was mostly just lying around and staring at the ceiling.

Feeling sympathy towards Taemin, Key entered the Prince's room and offered a couple of old story books from the hallway shelf for him to read.

Taemin politely took them, however after looking over a few of them his mind was still discontempt. He had read over half of the books before numerous times, and the new ones Key had given him he had managed to finish before the afternoon. He was finally down to his last book, titled The Prisoner.

The beginning of the book bored the Prince, causing him to flip towards the middle where the action began. As he got further into the paragraph, the boy's interest grew     he could use this information to his benefit.

The story spoke of a man in prison, who planned to escape from his cell by simply making a key out of a wire by bending it until it fit to match the key hole. Taemin looked over at the door and saw that it could lock with a key from both the outside and inside.

The Prince put down the book and immediately began searching for any materials that he could use. Though he knew better than to trust a storybook, he had to at least try to escape. The worst thing that could happen would be getting re-captured.

"My shirt..." he whispered to himself. The Prince hastily scrambled underneath his bed where he had discarded his suit. He got a hold of one of his shoulder pads and ripped it off, removing the tassels and digging to get the wire that held the piece together. He smiled to himself and held it up, feeling victorious. Now all he needed to do was get it to fit into the key hole.

Suddenly, the sound of jingling metal put the Prince into panic mode. "Damn keys..." a voice mumbled from the outside.

Taemin hurriedly kicked his clothes under the bed and hid the wire under his pillow. He didn't have time to get back onto the bed, leaving him awkwardly sitting in the middle of the floor as the thief entered.

Minho raised his brow at the boy as he saw his legs sprawled out on the floor, but shrugged it off, thinking it was nothing.

"Here," he said and handed Taemin a sandwich Key had made him for lunch. The Prince treated the man with the same indifference he treated Onew and kept quiet, only staring at him.

Minho rolled his eyes in annoyance. "I know this isn